Inquest into the death of Leif James
Deceased
Leif James
Demographics
18y, male
Date of death
2013-10-31
Finding date
2015-08-28
Cause of death
Head injury sustained in motor vehicle collision during police pursuit
AI-generated summary
An 18-year-old man died from head injuries sustained as a passenger in a stolen vehicle that was being pursued by police. The vehicle reached 135kph in an 80kph zone, lost control on a bend and collided with an oncoming ute. The police pursuit lasted 80 seconds. The coroner found a minor technical breach of the NSW Police Safe Driving Policy but determined it did not impact the pursuit outcome. A significant issue identified was the classification of the two initiating officers as 'witnesses' rather than 'directly involved officers' in the critical incident investigation, which the coroner found was inappropriate. The coroner endorsed prior recommendations regarding pursuit termination policies and noted the police agreed to reclassify all pursuing officers as directly involved in future critical incident investigations.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- Excessive vehicle speed (135kph in 80kph zone)
- Loss of control on right-hand bend
- Police pursuit of stolen vehicle
- Technical breach of NSW Police Safe Driving Policy by initiating officer
- Poor classification of officers in critical incident investigation
Coroner's recommendations
- Forward findings to the Minister for Justice and Police for consideration together with recommendations in the matters of Hamish Raj, Jason Mark Thomson and Trent Lenthall
- Endorse recommendations from Deputy State Coroner Dillon's Hamish Raj inquest regarding pursuit termination guidelines and whether police should pursue suspected stolen vehicles
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